My late grandmother, a wonderful cook and pastry chef who I loved dearly, had an acerbic tongue when it came to other people’s cooking, including that of her own children.

“Is it from a packet?” was her grandest insult upon tasting a cake baked by her progeny. She refused to believe we’d inherited her baking prowess, and the only plausible explanation for a good outcome – unless she was involved, of course – was that we had cheated with Betty Crocker cake mix.

Melissa Singer’s Kenwood mixer, handed down from her grandmother.

To be fair, the woman did bake at a higher level than us mere mortals. My mother’s angel cake never reached the lofty heights of my grandmother’s, and I’ve never tasted an apple strudel quite like hers.........

© The Sydney Morning Herald